Caribbean tourism is well underway with many of its destinations approaching or exceeding record visitor arrivals since the fallouts sustained from the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Recent announcements by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) at its annual summit recognised the Caribbean and Latin America as being among the regions leading global tourism recovery.

President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Nicola Madden-Greig said that on average many of the region’s hotels and resorts are expected to approach close to 80 per cent of their pre-pandemic performance this year, with some destinations setting all-time records.

She noted that outside of the significant upticks seen in tourist arrivals, cruise ship arrivals were also steadily on the rebound, along with increased investments in the sector seen by the ongoing and robust construction of new hotels and resorts and the upgrading of existing ones.

“These are all great indicators which point to traveller confidence and demand for the Caribbean. We are seeing the fruits of years of hard work by the industry and governments throughout the region to invest in our tourism product and our people, and to broaden our appeal as we find new ways to provide a diverse and exciting experience for our visitors,” she said.

Data from the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) indicated that up to the third quarter of last year there were some 5.4 million tourist arrivals to the region— almost three times the arrivals for the same period in 2020, though still some 23 per cent below 2019 levels.

Just this week, the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), in releasing its preliminary estimates on economic performance for the first quarter of this year, shows that a vast amount of Jamaica’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth continues to be led by tourism. According to the data the hotels and restaurants sector increased by approximately 106 per cent when compared to the similar period last year. This after foreign national arrivals increased by 230 per cent to total 475,805 visitors and cruise passenger arrivals to 99,798 relative to none in the corresponding quarter.

For the 2021/22 fiscal year tourism also accounted for the strongest growth expanding by 125 per cent when compared to out-turns from the other subsectors. For the current April-June quarter, the country’s positive economic growth, which was estimated at six per cent in the previous quarter, is further expected to be driven by out-turns from the hotels and restaurants sector as a result of continued upturns in tourism and entertainment activities.

“Preliminary airport arrivals for April 2022 totalled 227 259 persons, an increase of 174.8 per cent compared with April 2021,” PIOJ’s Director General Dr Wayne Henry said at a virtually held quarterly briefing on Wednesday.

Between January to February total visitor expenditure is said to have also increased to US$485.6 million when compared to US$169.2 million for the corresponding 2021 period. Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, during his budget presentation in April, said that the sector is projected to end this year just US$200 million below that of 2019 earnings. Prior to the pandemic, earnings from the sector peaked at US$3.7 billion, the highest it has been.

Across the region other territories including Barbados, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico and St Lucia, which was one of the first destinations to restart tourism after lockdowns caused by the pandemic, have also been experiencing rebounds in tourism as the virus subsides and measures to curtail the spread are relaxed.